As of yesterday, I'm very close to being roadworthy. I bought my '86 Gold Wing 5 weeks ago in very rough shape, it was last on the road in 2001. The throttle in fact wouldn't even turn, the carburetor shafts were varnished tight with glue. I work mostly on weekends, and gather up parts On E-Bay as I go. So far here is what I've done: removed and rebuilt carbs, replaced fuel tank (cleaned replacement tank with phosphoric acid), Soldered stator wires (stator good), rebuilt all three brake calipers, (MC's good) removed and rebuilt front forks, seals puking oil, (bushings and tubes good) removed markland running boards, installed factory pegs, change oil and filter, get engine started. Install new Dunlop Elite 3 tires, lubricate drive splines. So now I have a running, stopping, and retired bike. I'm psyched, I can't wait to try this thing. I'd love to leave the thing "naked" it looks cool fenderless with the engine exposed and those big Dunlops in the wells. Todays project are the timing belts, and a carb sync. Next weekend is a bust due to a out of state wedding, hopefully I'll be ready to finish hanging on the fenders, seats, and chrome. Picture coming later..................................

Promised pics: The more I look at the bike the more i would like to make a "naked" wing, what a shame to hide those nice big tires behind fenders and bags! I'm really amazed at how nice the rusted and tarnished chrome cleaned up, well, at least the paint is ratty.

The bike was a $500. purchase, but will easily have about $1200. in parts completed. My goal was to make a complete reliable tour bike on a budget. I intend to take it cross country this coming Summer. The tires are Dunlop Elite 3's in the stock size for an '86 Goldwing, rear size: MV85HB-15 , the front, MT90HB-16. I purchased them from Amazon, $282 for the pair shipped.

Went for my first ride last night, no tag, no worries, I live in the middle of nowhere. Bike ran strong, but I got stuck, my front left caliper hung up. I should have rebuilt the master cylinder, fluid failed to return and clamped the brake, wouldn't roll. Fortunately a neighbor came by or I would be walking 1 1/2 miles home. I went back, took a 12mm wrench and cracked the LS caliper banjo bolt releasing fluid, it rolled fine. OH well, back to the shop again. I've got to fix my stop lights on the LS of the upper bag too. Bike rides NICE, like a big ole comfy couch! It sure is WEIRD riding a bike bolt upright, remember my other ride is a '03 RC 51 and '81 CBX, both bikes are "Crouch Rockets"!!!!

RATWING-86 wrote: It sure is WEIRD riding a bike bolt upright, remember my other ride is a '03 RC 51 and '81 CBX, both bikes are "Crouch Rockets"!!!!

The CBX not so much but definitely a fun ride. I liked the CBX riding position. Had an 80 and a 81, now CBXless.

Nice to see another CBX aficionado here.

"It´s a friggen motorcycle, it´s not supposed to be comfortable, quiet or safe. The wind noise is supposed to hurt your ears, the seat should be hard and riding it should make you s**t your pants every now and then. "

I have four Goldwings, not to brag but the very first one was a free 81 GL100 that was given to me back in june or so, carbs were robbed off it and water got down in the cylinders, after pulling the heads I found the liners pitted so badly I wrote off the bike, funny thing is I find its a veritable gold mine in used parts such as the rear master cylinder.has the bigger fairing and trunk and almost everything else but no title, wiring harness was chopped up so its missing all ignition parts and carbs.Then a month later I see a Craigslist ad for an 84 sitting in a Harley shop in Anchorage, I gave the guy $50 for it, title included on this one, someone was stripping it down to a bare bike, has a running 1200 engine but its basically a naked GW, no bags, nothing, no fairings what so ever.Then I traded a hunting rifle for an abused 85 Interstate, after rebuilding the starter I had another GW.

I have been thinking about building it into a 4 cylinder Valkyrie project or some sort of doomsday rat bike, or something steampunk. But then again I may transplant the parts from the 81 to the 84 frame and motor as I have documentation on it. Just one of the project bikes I have on back burners.

That seems to be my experience, GW's seem to be worth more "DEAD" than alive. The parts market on E-Bay is booming. There are so many plastic bits on these bikes, it takes alot of work and searching to do this bike over right, because so much of the plastic has deteriorated in 27 years.

Yeah its tempting to chop up a Wing, so far I have shifted my priorities to upgrading the 95 Aspencade to a quasi SE, I picked up a ton of 98 SE body parts and am installing some of them to the 95. The seller had no clue what the radio, rear air shock, complete trunks and bags were worth.And I could easily sell certain items from the 81 really quickly like the side panels, the working rear MC, the air shock and the complete air suspension pump and valves.But part of me feels these old bikes deserve a second chance, more so than a common old Honda two cylinder, but what is truly amazing is that for the most part any Wing even with a ton of miles on it can easily be brought back to life without having to sell a kidney or a second home mortgage.My goal is "restoration" not to chop, not to drastically alter unless necessary but when I get a bike thats missing so much, has no paperwork it may be necessary for it to be a donor bike in most regards. Or combined with another.Also in Alaska where I live there are very very few older Goldwings up here, as far as I know, its Harley country big time. I could not buy a new Harley for the same amount of money I have spent on all 12 of my metric bikes.

I can see why you like restoring bikes, I've been doing it for years. Quick results, Hondas seem to be easily resurrected, clean fuel tank, clean carbs, and away they go. I spent years welding the complete undersides, and body panels on a '70 Mach I Mustang, I'll take sitting on my stool tinkering with a bike on my work table anytime!Despite goofing up (bad call) not rebuilding the Master cylinder, the build went very well, the bike rides REALLY nice, not a bad barn find. I've got a mechanically perfect bike for $1500.

About three years ago I was given a free 85 4wd Blazer, engine was junk, body rusted out pretty bad, crap tires. My son was 16 then, the two of us replaced the engine with one out of my other trucks, he must have used 20 pounds of bondo on that Blazer, I replaced the windshield, painted it and got some better tires, maybe at most I had $700 into it.For three years its been sitting in my front yard, son lost interest, it ran but still needed more work just to sell it, a couple weeks ago the same guy who sold me some GL1500 body parts calls me up and wants to see if I would buy his 95 Yamaha Virago 750, it was in pristine condition, he was asking $2500 for it, its worth $4,000 at least here in Alaska as we have a drastic shortage of middle of the line cruiser bikes, plenty of dirt bikes and Harleys, not much in the middle.So we swapped, he had a tranny out on his 84 Blazer, he makes his income snowplowing.Here is the bike in my man cave.